Food poisoning over Christmas

Be aware of cross contamination over the Christmas and New Year period. As highlighted on Channel 10, Studio 10 today when BBQ'ing do not put cooked meat back on the plate where there has been raw meat juice.

With over 5.4 million cases of food poisoning occuring in Australia each year you don't want friends or family to get food poisoning. With a fridges overloaded you need to check the tempereature of your fridge and freezer you need to keep cold food at or less than 5C. If there isn'tt enough room in the fridge take out the beer – remember that soft drinks and alcohol, pickles, jams and other acidic condiments don’t need refrigeration to remain safe, but your food does! Drinks can be kept cold in an esky with ice – which will also save you opening the fridge door too often and letting the cold air out.

If you cook large amounts of food in advance, divide it into smaller portions in to shallow containers so it cools quicker, cover and place in fridge or freezer. Make sure there is good air circulation around the containers.

With Christmas leftovers remember to refrigerate leftovers immediately after the meal. Never leave leftovers on the kitchen bench and use refrigerated leftovers within 2 to 3 days. Reheat food all the way through to at least 75C so it is piping hot.

CFT QLD offers food safety training where you learn what you need to know to keep food safe - personal hygeiene, correct temperatures, cross contamination and the course can be done online, by correspondence or onsite for groups. Just give our office a call 1300 775 155..

I would like to thank CFT QLD for their exceptional customer service. I could not do my job without their extremely fast, efficient and friendly assistance with any query I have. Their technical expertise and experience in delivering food safety training is a much valued service for our Company and employees.